AfriGeneas Heritage Arts & Crafts Forum

Mozell Benson 1934 ~ 2012

Sharon: Thought you would find this piece of interest from The Alabama Arts Council

Mozell Benson
1934-2012
National Heritage Award Fellow

On July 16th Alabama lost one of its most celebrated quilters. Mozell Benson was 78 years old when she died at her home last week in Waverly. Mrs. Benson’s quilts first gained national attention in the exhibit “Signs and Symbols: African American Quilts from the Rural South.” Her work has also been displayed at the Smithsonian Institution and the American Folklife Museum.

In 2001 Mrs. Benson was honored with a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, our nation’s highest award for the folk and traditional arts. The following program is a rebroadcast of Anne Kimzey’s 2007 interview with Mozell Benson and her daughter Sylvia Stephens in which they discuss their participation in the State Arts Council’s Folk Arts Apprenticeship Program and also the experience of having a home and quilt studio built for Mrs. Benson by students in the Design/Build Master’s program at Auburn University’s School of Architecture.